The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2): Including Public Addresses, Her Own Letters and Many From Her Contemporaries During Fifty YearsHarper, Ida Husted
History
The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2): Including Public Addresses, Her Own Letters and Many From Her Contemporaries During Fifty Years
Harper, Ida Husted
Anthony, Susan B. (Susan Brownell), 1820-1906
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on
account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.
Amendment XIV had settled the status of citizenship. "All persons born
or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction
thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein
they reside." Now came the next measure to protect the citizen's right
to vote, which proposed to guard against any discrimination on account
of race, of color, of previous condition, but by the omission of the
one word "sex," all women still were left disfranchised. At this time
the leading Republicans believed in universal suffrage. Garrison,
Phillips, Greeley, Sumner, Tilton, Wilson, Wade, Stevens, Brown, Julian
and many others had publicly declared their belief in the right of
woman to the ballot, but now driven by party necessity, they repudiated
their principles, and deferred the day of her freedom for generations.
Yet it was not forgotten still carefully to include her in the basis of
representation, fully to make her amenable to the laws, and strictly to
hold her to her share of taxation. In reference to this The Revolution
said:
The proposed amendment for "manhood suffrage" not only rouses
woman's prejudices against the negro, but on the other hand his
contempt and hostility toward her.... Just as the Democratic cry of
a "white man's government" created the antagonism between the
Irishman and the negro, which culminated in the New York riots of
1863, so the Republican cry of "manhood suffrage" creates an
antagonism between black men and all women, which will culminate in
fearful outrages on womanhood, especially in the Southern States.
While we fully appreciate the philosophy that every extension of
rights prepares the way for greater freedom to new classes and
hastens the day of liberty to all, we at the same time see that the
immediate effect of class enfranchisement is greater tyranny and
abuse of those who have no voice in the government. Had Irishmen
been disfranchised in this country, they would have made common
cause with the negro in fighting for his rights, but when exalted
above him, they proved his worst enemies. The negro will be the
victim for generations to come, of the prejudice engendered by
making this a white man's government. While the enfranchisement of
each new class of white men was a step toward his ultimate freedom,
it increased his degradation in the transition period, and he
touched the depths when all men but himself were crowned with
citizenship.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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